Chapter 28

RIVER

He felt the doctors working on him, but River couldn’t seem to catch his breath enough to talk. As they got an IV into his hand, they shot some pain medication into him, and that was the first moment that River realized he was going to be alright.

They took x-rays and set his broken nose. River let them do everything they needed to, and he didn’t protest, even when their tests caused him a lot of pain. River was happy that they had made it to the hospital, but he was much happier that they were now giving him pain medications.

“Can you tell me what happened?” the doctor asked River.

He could tell the doctor what happened, but River wasn’t about to get the real live version of the events down on paper. It was already going to be a media circus once the press found out that both River and the governor were taken by ambulance to the hospital. There just wasn’t the ability to hide those things like there used to be.

“I don’t remember,” River lied to the doctor. “Is the governor alright?”

The doctor didn’t answer River and instead went back to looking at his tests and taking care of him. After a few minutes, the doctor gave the nurses some orders and then made his way to the room across the hall.

“Is the governor alright?” River asked one of the nurses.

“He’s not doing too well. He lost a lot of blood.”

“We were talking to each other through most of the night,” River said to the nurse. “He lost consciousness a little before sunup.”

The nurse nodded at River’s willingness to tell her part of the story. Then she walked across the hall to relay the information to the team that was working on the governor.

“How are you feeling, Mr. Anders?” another nurse asked him as she checked his vital signs.

“I’m good. Can you see if my girlfriend is anywhere? I’d really like to see her.”

“Sure, what’s her name?”

River gave the nurse Mariah’s name and a brief description of her. As the pain medication started to kick in, he was feeling much better. Still not well enough to get up and move or anything like that, but River felt like he needed to talk to Mariah right away.

“River!” Mariah screamed as she ran to him from the doorway of the hospital room.

Right before she was about to hug him, a nurse stuck her hand out and stopped Mariah from moving forward.

“He’s got several broken ribs. Hugging won’t feel good right now,” the nurse said.

“I’m alright. Everything is great,” River said as he smiled at Mariah.

“Um, I’m not sure you understand what is going on here. There are dozens of press people out in the lobby. They heard on the scanner who was involved. The press is going crazy, River. Everything is not great.”

River couldn’t help smiling at how serious Mariah was taking the press. He wasn’t worried, though.

“We talked. The governor and I talked. We have worked things out,” River said as he tried to explain what was going on.

Mariah started to laugh as she turned away from River and walked toward the room where they were working on the governor. The shades were pulled, and there were at least a dozen people in the room with him.

As Mariah stood in the doorway, she saw Kimberly being escorted to the room from the lobby. Mariah didn’t really know what to say. With everything that had gone on between all of them, Mariah had nothing else left to say to Kimberly.

“This news story is going to destroy his bid for the presidency. If he makes it through this, it’s going to be an uphill battle for him,” Mariah said as she closed their door and went back to concentrating on River.

“I need to see him. I have to ask him something,” River said as he started to try and stand up in his bed.

There were two nurses quickly right by River’s side as he started to stand up. He was much weaker than she had ever seen him. River wanted to get up and walk, but the nurses quickly convinced him to just sit and rest before he started to try and walk anywhere in the hospital.

“There’s no way you’re going anywhere, Mr. Anders; please sit back down,” one of the older nurses said.

The authority in her voice had River quickly lying back in his bed. Mariah smiled at how easily he followed the woman’s directions. If only he would follow her directions like that when she had told him what was best for his company.

“Why do you need to talk to the governor?” Mariah asked.

“I told you. We talked; we worked things out.”

Mariah had no idea what River was talking about. What did he talk to the governor about, and why on earth did both he and the governor end up near death on the floor of River’s house.

The doctor that had worked on River before came back into his room again.

“Mr. Emerald would like to talk to you. He is doing better, and it appears that he will make it through this. I don’t think I can get the two of you into the same room tonight. But by tomorrow, I will.”

River was fine with that. He just needed to talk with the governor before there was any press conference. It was essential that River and the governor decide on what they wanted to say to the press. Because they both had some pretty important things to say. Especially after spending the whole night together talking about Jackson and their future.

The rest of the night went by rather fast as River drifted in and out of sleep. The pain medication worked really well for most of the night, and he had only woken up because he needed to use the restroom or take his next dose of pills.

As the night move forward, River felt himself feeling much better, and he expected he would get released from the hospital in the morning. He was certainly still going to have a lot of recovery to deal with, but River was feeling much better.

Around six o’clock in the morning, one of River’s regular nurses came to his room to take his vital signs. Mariah was asleep on the chair in the corner, and River was done sleeping for the moment.

“I need to go see the governor, Millard Emerald, River said as sweetly as he could muster.”

“Sir, the governor has guards outside his room. He has protection.”

“Why?”

“Because he said a robber attacked him.”

River was shocked by what he heard. Had the governor really just told a lie about his past? The funny thing was that all politicians lied; it was just a matter of which lies you liked the most.

“You’re not going to see him alone,” Mariah said through her sleepy eyes.

River didn’t know just how long Mariah had been awake, but it was long enough that he was worried about what she had heard while he was talking to the nurse. River knew that Mariah was going to be alright with the new plan, but he also knew that she liked to keep things private and not share them with other people. It was entirely possible that Mariah could keep a secret for her entire life. She certainly had kept River’s secret for a really long time.

“I’m not going to attack him. Millard and I bonded during our time in the car. I just need to talk to him about something private.”

Mariah seemed really skeptical of whatever it was that River had planned, but she got up and started to help the nurse move River into a wheelchair. River loved that she was going to come with him, he couldn’t wait for her to see the surprise that he had worked up.

“You promise not to attack him?” Mariah asked.

“Yes, I promise.”

They wheeled River down to the room that had the guards standing in front of it. At first, the guard wouldn’t even consider telling Kimberly that they were outside waiting, but River insisted that they wake the governor up and ask him if he could come in and visit.

Sure enough, after the guard disappeared into the governor’s room, he came out and opened the door wide so River could get pushed into it.

“River,” the governor said as he tried to smile.

The governor’s face had a few lacerations that looked like they had been stitched back together. But instead of black stitches and big bandages, the governor had clear stitches and clear bandages. You could certainly tell that he had been injured, but not nearly as horrific looking as traditional stitches would be.

“When do you want to do it?” River asked the governor.

“I say we do it this morning.”

Mariah and Kimberly looked back and forth between the two men and then between each other. Neither of them seemed to understand what was going on at all. Mariah especially seemed to want to know more answers before she was going to put her guard down.

“What’s going on here,” Mariah asked. “What are you doing this morning?”

“A press conference with me, River and Kimberly,” the governor said.

Mariah stood stunned for at least twenty seconds before she managed to think of the comeback she was looking for.

“This is a bad idea,’ Mariah said firmly. “It’s not going to go well, and what does your press conference have to do with the governor. Why does he need to be involved in your press conference?

Mariah didn’t seem to understand exactly what was going on and why they were going to have a press conference. But River didn’t have the energy to keep trying to explain things to her. He wanted to save his little amount of energy for while they were actually at the podium talking.

“Kimberly, what do you think?” the governor asked.

Kimberly looked surprised that he had asked her for an opinion on the matter. River thought that it was probably something new in their household, communicating and asking questions.

“I think we need to talk about it.”

Kimberly and the governor requested some privacy while they discussed the press conference that the governor and River had agreed to. Kimberly didn’t know what had changed between the two men, and she didn’t really care. Since Jackson had been born, Kimberly had always tried to do her best by him. Whatever the press conference was for, it was going to be exciting for Kimberly.

When the two couples got back together a few hours later, the governor had some flash cards for each member to hold onto and try to remember. He appeared to have planned out the words that each person would say; the cards were just reminders, but Mariah and Kimberly quickly went to work trying to memorize the note cars.

The press conference didn’t start until noon when both River and the governor were wheeled into the small courtroom. Neither of them looked good at all, and Mariah found herself giggling a little at the idea they were going to go up in front of the public and give a speech. Both of the men had brutal bruising on their faces, and it was clear that they were not going to talk about those bruises on national television.

“We are here today to clear up all the gossip that is going around.”

“Governor, is it true. Are the rumors true?” one reporter blurted out.

River wasn’t exactly sure what it was that he had expected when he made the press conference showing. All he knew was he wanted everyone to understand what was really going on.

“I’ll address the rumors,” River said kindly. “No, Mariah is not my girlfriend.”

The audience laughed as they waited for the rest of the punch life. River knew that there were many other questions on everyone’s mind.

“Mr. Anders, is it true that you and the governor were in a brawl at your house?”

River knew that questions were going to come up sooner or later. He and the governor had discussed exactly what they were going to say.

“I can answer that,” the governor said. “We were not in a brawl.”

River was impressed at how easily the governor handled the press. It must have been crazy having people ask him questions all of the time and then not listening to his original answer.

“We aren’t going to be making a long statement,” River said as he tried to get the crowd under control. “Kimberly and I had a relationship many years ago. That relationship resulted in our beautiful son.”

Mariah wasn’t sure what was going on.

“I made a mistake with what I said in the original newspaper article. I was angry and didn’t really know how to show that, or how to responded to that columnist’s questions. I was caught off guard and made a false statement about what had happened between Mr. Anders and my wife,” the governor said. “Kimberly would like to speak for a moment now.”

“I am thrilled to take on a new role in my life. I am excited for Jackson, who now has two full-time fathers and one full-time mother. The three of us are committed to working together and being a good example for our child,” Kimberly said and then quickly walked back to her spot on the podium area.

“Are you saying that the three of you are going to live together?” A reporter asked.

“We are going to do whatever is necessary to raise a strong and intelligent man who doesn’t need help with anything in his life but can still accept help when he needs it. We are more committed than ever to bring our family together and out of this darkness.”

The press conference went on for a short while and all the photographers couldn’t get enough of the pictures of all four of them together.

“So it’s over?” Mariah asked.

“I think it is,” River asked. “We just turn around and go home like nothing ever happened in the first place.”

“Hey, we need to get to Jackson’s technology program,” Kimberly yelled out toward the two men as they all left the stage. “He is going to freak out when he sees the two of you together.”

“I can’t wait to tell him he gets to have us both as his dads,” River said.

As the governor and Kimberly prepared to go to their neighbors’ house to pick up Jackson’s friend, they also couldn’t stop thinking that their time together had come to an end. River leaned over and grabbed Mariah as he kissed her and said good night.